Kanaye Nagasawa - The samurai who forever changed California

2022年12月17日

長澤鼎(ながさわかなえ)は、日本から密航し、米国初の日本人永住者となり、カリフォルニアのワイン産業の誕生に貢献しました。カリフォルニアのワインを初めてイギリスやヨーロッパに売り込むなど、カリフォルニアワイン産業の発展に大きな役割を果たしたのです。(English) Smuggled out of Japan, Kanaye Nagasawa became the US' first permanent Japanese resident and helped birth California's wine industry. He played a significant role in the growth of the California wine industry, being the first to market our wine to England and Europe.

Kanaye Nagasawa - The samurai who forever changed California

//Summary//

Sonoma County, California, has been one of the world's premier wine-growing regions for over a century.

Many of the region's first commercial vines were planted in the mid-1850s by European settlers in France and Germany.

But California might never have earned such viticultural acclaim if it weren't for the little-known story of a Japanese immigrant named Kanaye Nagasawa.

Born into a samurai family and smuggled out of Shogunate Japan, eventually known as the "Wine King of California."

Nagasawa's extraordinary story goes back to 1864 when 19 young samurai from the Satsuma peninsula of Kagoshima were smuggled out of fiercely isolationist Edo-era Japan on a secret mission to study science and technology in the West.

When Harris elected to move the community to a rural, 600-acre swath in western Sonoma County in 1875, the then-25-year-old Nagasawa came along.

With Harris gone, Nagasawa took ownership of the estate. He also became the first Japanese national to live permanently in the US.

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"He played a significant role in the growth of the California wine industry, being the first to market our wine to England and Europe," LeBaron added, noting that the Japanese emperor awarded Nagasawa the Order of the Rising Sun in 1915.

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In 1942, Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which ordered the forced removal of Japanese American "enemy aliens."

The Nagasawa heirs, who were still fighting the estate's seizure in court, were incarcerated in internment camps.

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While the exhibit at Paradise Ridge is the only permanent in the US dedicated to Nagasawa.

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In 2021, the Wakamatsu group held its first tea ceremony at Paradise Ridge with Nagasawa family members in attendance.

But perhaps the best and simplest epitaph for this remarkable man is the one added by his family to the plaque in Nagasawa Park, which outlines his life in just four words: "Samurai Spirit in California."

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Sonoma County, California, has been one of the world's premier wine-growing regions for over a century.

Many of the region's first commercial vines were planted in the mid-1850s by European settlers in France and Germany.

But California might never have earned such viticultural acclaim if it weren't for the little-known story of a Japanese immigrant named Kanaye Nagasawa.

Born into a samurai family and smuggled out of Shogunate Japan, eventually known as the "Wine King of California."

Nagasawa was operating one of the largest wineries in California, producing more than 200,000 gallons of wine a year from the vineyards of the 2,000-acre.

The "Wine King" helped famed American botanist Luther Burbank teach horticulture; consulted with Japanese international dignitaries; and hosted Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, John Muir, and other notable figures at his lavish Sonoma estate.

Yet, Nagasawa had been forgotten when local vintners Walter and Marijke Byck purchased land adjacent to the original Fountaingrove estate to plant vineyards.

I was standing in the small, family-run winery, looking at an exhibit the Bycks first unveiled in 1996 with the help of the Museum of Sonoma County and Nagasawa's descendants.

Photographs of Nagasawa and his family in front of his vineyards, entertaining at his ornate Fountaingrove mansion and overseeing winery operations, were displayed across the walls.

The exhibit's centerpiece was a long, curved samurai sword that Nagasawa brought back from Japan when he returned to visit as an adult.

"That sword was important to Nagasawa," said Mary Ijichi, Nagasawa's great-grandniece. "But my father told me his uncle said, 'Our education will be our sword.'"

The sword became a symbol of resilience after the 36,800-acre Tubbs wildfire swept through the area in 2017, causing $8.7bn in damage.

The youngest of the group, 13-year-old Hikosuke Isonaga, went to Scotland, changing his name to Kanaye Nagasawa to protect his family since, at the time, it was illegal to travel outside Japan.

There, he came into the orbit of a charismatic religious leader, Thomas Lake Harris, who was recruiting followers to his version of ecstatic transcendentalism called The Brotherhood of the New Life.

When Harris elected to move the community to a rural, 600-acre swath in western Sonoma County in 1875, the then-25-year-old Nagasawa came along.

Naming the estate Fountaingrove after a year-round spring on the property, Harris set out to grow grapes, putting Nagasawa in charge of the operation.

With Harris gone, Nagasawa took ownership of the estate. He also became the first Japanese national to live permanently in the US.

"He and Luther Burbank used to ride together to all the vineyards and ranches advising on growing grapes and other crops," said Gaye LeBaron.

"The townspeople here admired the heck out of him, as you can see from all the photographs of these huge dinners he would have on his front lawn."

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When the government seized Fountaingrove as part of the state's discrimination, which was instituted in 1913, expanded in the 1920s, and forbade Asian nationals from owning land or businesses.

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The childless Nagasawa, who never married, attempted to keep the estate in the family by willing it to his grand-nephew Kosuke Ijichi, born on the estate and thus an American citizen.

But upon Nagasawa's death in 1934, Kosuke was not of age, and the trustee took control of the estate and quickly sold off the land.

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In 1942, Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which ordered the forced removal of Japanese American "enemy aliens."

The Nagasawa heirs, who were still fighting the estate's seizure in court, were incarcerated in internment camps.

Like the approximately 125,000 Japanese Americans imprisoned until after the end of World War Two, they lost any chance of reclaiming their property.

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Japanese media came to film documentaries on the collective legacy of the 19 Kagoshima samurai students, many of whom had become prominent figures in government and industry after returning to Japan.

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While the exhibit at Paradise Ridge is the only permanent in the US dedicated to Nagasawa.

The most extensive Nagasawa collection resides in Japan, where a museum is preserving the legacy of all 19 samurai students.

The Satsuma Students Museum opened in Kagoshima in 2014.

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"A lot of California agriculture owes its start to Japanese immigrants.

Like the 'Potato King' and the 'Garlic King', as well as the 'Wine King'," said tea plantation founder Nao Magami, referring to Japanese immigrants George Shima, whose vast potato harvests led him to become the first Japanese American millionaire, and Kiyoshi Hirasaki, who became the country's biggest garlic producer.

"But when the Japanese were sent to camps in World War Two, all of those stories got lost. So now we are trying to tie together those legacies of these earliest California pioneers."

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In 2021, the Wakamatsu group held its first tea ceremony at Paradise Ridge with Nagasawa family members in attendance.